APPRECIATING THE GOVERNMENT’S EFFORTS TO CREATE JOBS

So much noise continues to be made about the credibility or otherwise of job creation initiatives of the Akufo-Addo administration.

Initially, we were treated by the opposition to some pictures about dams that are supposed to increase food production in the northern regions getting silted, double counting of projects and others for which sod had been cut but allegedly not flying as touted by government.

Propaganda

Propagandists, with the support of some mercenary media networks, deprecated the job creation initiatives in a lump, as if nothing was happening at all.

Of course, there were genuine hiccups in some areas over infrastructure getting off the ground, as it is the case with several projects in this part of the world.

When the true picture, however, began to emerge after counter-research by some of our government communicators, it turned out that so much was going on in terms of efforts than was even being reported by the ‘friendly media’.

Tradition

And yet, most of our youth falling victim to this propaganda ignore the fact that only yesterday, under John Dramani Mahama, excuses were given about teachers and nurses and other public sector workers denied job opportunities because our development partners were complaining about our ballooning wage bill.

This is against the record of the ruling administration, caught under a reckless IMF programme foisted on Ghana by the Mahama administration, beating the IMF programme, growing the economy by leaps and bounds, and finding the resources to put ‘iced’ teachers, nurses, among others, back into their jobs.

Interestingly, these youth have not also been told by their leaders in the NDC how the parent Provisional National Defence Council so loved the people of Ghana that it chased well-to-do citizens out of town, so that ordinary citizens could find jobs, only to have that very government kill dozens of industries – private sector and public sector – under a layoff programme supervised by the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC).

That is why the commissioning of a rubber processing plant, decades after Bonsa Tyre and others in the sector had collapsed under [P]NDC watch in the 1980s, together with dozens of other state enterprises like the Tema Food Complex, State Publishing Corporation, Meat Marketing Company, Food Distribution Corporation, DUMAS, State Housing Corporation etc., deserves appreciation by Ghanaians.

That appreciation is important when we look back at the saga of a certain breed of politicians who use force and intimidation to grab power, without knowing how to put that mandate to profitable use.

Chicken, guinea fowl factories

How serious government is taking the 1D1F initiative is also highlighted in the report about the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s joint programme to invest in chicken and guinea fowl production and processing factories.

That certainly has the potential to create several layers of jobs for youth interested in setting up kebab joints, and caterers interested in expanding their businesses, aside of savings from importing meat products and enhancing food security.

National benefit

Particularly for graduates in agriculture-related vocations, who exit our tertiary institutions, without knowing where to settle down, we believe the NDC and its communicators will be doing the nation a patriotic duty by drawing the attention of their boys and girls to these initiatives in helping them move their lives forward, away from the discordant notes they are being forced to pipe for coins day by day.

Yes, the government may have challenges implementing all these lofty initiatives, but that is why brains and brawns are put together in civilised countries the world over for the collective good.